


The Blue Light

by Kapla_Quail



Category: Grimm's Fairy Tales, Starfighter (Comic)
Genre: Alternate Universe: Folktale, Falling In Love, Folklore, Friendship, Humiliation, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Magic, Medical Conditions, PTSD, Soldiers, War, Witches, canon Cain and a parade role for Deimos, crack that turned too serious, daddy-kink, dub-con elements (I'm sorry), everyone is kind of shady, evil Abel, except Deimos surprisingly, happy end, kinky Bering, resigned Praxis, spite and malice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:14:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22294657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kapla_Quail/pseuds/Kapla_Quail
Summary: A traumatized soldier, maimed in war, wants to take revenge for his cruel dismissal and finds love along the way.My favourite Grimm's tale, now set in the Starfighter-Universe.
Relationships: Abel/Praxis (Starfighter), Bering/Praxis, Deimos/Praxis (Starfighter)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4





	The Blue Light

**Author's Note:**

  * For [on_the_wing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/on_the_wing/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Mother's Child](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22120342) by [on_the_wing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/on_the_wing/pseuds/on_the_wing). 



> This is my birthday present for you, on_the_wing!
> 
> I know it's not nearly as brilliant as the wonderful story you wrote for me, and technically it's not even a surprise any more. I'm ashamed that I couldn't do better. But still I hope you will enjoy it at least a little - because there's never enough Praxmos out there, right? ;-)

Unce upon a time, there was a soldier who for many years had served his king faithfully. But the innumerous combats he had fought had taken their toll on him, and when the war came to its end, he had to leave service with severe wounds on his body and, more importantly, his soul.

Where his left eye had been, now only an ugly scar remained. It frightened people, so he usually covered it with a black eyepatch to hide it from sight. There was no such patch, though, to conceal the soldier's seizures of fear, his dreadful memories, his nightmares and the flashbacks that befell him. He knew he couldn't serve no more. He was useless.

When he was officially dismissed, the young king said to him: "You may return to your home, I need you no longer. But you will not receive any money, for he only receives wages who renders me serve for them."

Traumatized and disabled like he was, the soldier did not know how to earn a living. He had never learned any profession than fighting, and so he went away greatly troubled and beyond all hope.

He walked the whole day, until in the evening he entered a forest. When darkness came on, he saw a light, which he went up to, and came to a house wherein lived an old witcher.

"Do give me one night's lodging, and a little to eat and drink," the soldier begged him, too broken to even look in the old man's face. “I am destitute. If you won't help me, I shall starve."

"Oho," the dark, bearded creature answered, "Who gives anything to a run-away soldier? Yet will I be compassionate and take you in, if you will do what I wish."

"What do you wish?" asked the soldier, weary, withered and completely insensible to his fate.

"Despite your wounds, you're still a handsome enough man, soldier. I wish that you shall adopt the role of my son tonight and let your father put you to bed as is right and proper. Tomorrow, then, you shall dig all round my garden for me."

Thinking that all this still sounded better than starving in the woods, the soldier consented. The next day he labored with all his strength, but haggard as he was, he could not finish his task by the evening.

"I see well enough," said the witcher, "that you can do no more today. Your father will keep you yet another night and care for you, in payment for which you must tomorrow chop him a load of wood. And chop it small."

What a humiliating task this was for a one-eyed man. But the soldier did not revolt. He spent the whole day in doing what he was told, and in the evening to his surprise the witcher proposed that he should stay one night more.

"As you've been such a good boy until now, tomorrow you shall only do me a very trifling piece of work. Behind my house, there is an old dry well, into which my light has fallen. It burns blue, and never goes out. You shall bring it up for your father again."

Next day the old man took him to the well, and by surprising manly strength let him down in a basket. The soldier found the blue light, and made him a signal to draw him up again. The witcher did draw him up, but only near the edge, and then he stretched down his hand and wanted to take the blue light away from him.

"No," said the soldier, perceiving the witcher's evil intention, "That wasn't part of our plan! I will not give you the light until I am standing with both feet upon the ground."

The witcher fell into a passion about his 'son's' disobedience, let him fall again into the well and went away.

The poor soldier had much luck and fell without injury on the moist ground. The blue light even went on burning. But of what use was that to him? The darkness and closeness of the brick-built hole set him trembling and sweating profusely, even more so when he realized that he could not escape death. Horrible images from war rolled by his inner eye, and paralyzed by fear the soldier sat for a long time. Then suddenly he felt in his pocket and found his tobacco pipe, which was still half full.

"A smoke always calms you best. This shall be my last pleasure," thought he, pulled it out, lit it at the blue light and slowly began to smoke.

When the smoke had circled about the cavern, suddenly a little figure stood before him. It was cled in a jet-black, hooded cape and his face was half hidden by his equally black hair. With a quiet, raspy voice it asked: "Lord, what are your commands?"

"What my commands are?" replied the soldier, quite astonished about his quick metamorphosis from 'child' to 'master'.

"I must do everything you bid me," whispered the little man.

"Good," said the soldier, voice still unsteady. “Then in the first place help me out of this well."

The little man took him by the shaky hand and led him through an underground passage. The soldier noticed how his fear slowly vanished at that contact, and feeling some inexplicable trust, he followed willingly.

The little one did not forget to take the blue light with him. On the way the childlike creature showed him the treasures which the witcher had collected and hidden there, and the soldier took as much gold as he could carry.

When he was above, the soldier said to the little man, "The witcher took advantage of me and wanted me to die in that well, therefor go and bind him and carry him before the judge."

In a short time the witcher came by like the wind, riding on a wild tom-cat and screaming frightfully. Nor was it long before the little man re-appeared. "It is all done," said he, "and the witcher is waiting to be court-martialled. What further commands has my lord?"

"At this moment, none," answered the soldier, "You can return to your home, wherever that might be. Only be at hand immediately if I summon you."

"Nothing more is needed than that you should light your pipe at the blue light, and I will appear before you at once."

The little one looked up at him with a strange expression and the soldier swore he had never seen eyes of such depth and colour before. With a twirl of his cloak, the small man vanished from his sight.

The soldier then returned to the town of New Volga, from which he had come. He went to the the best inn on site, the 'Alpha 01', ordered himself decent clothes and then bade the landlord furnish him a room as big as possible to prevent his choking claustrophobia. When it was ready and the soldier had taken possession of it, he summoned the little black mannikin and said, "I have served the king faithfully, but he has dismissed me without pay and left me to hunger. Now I want to take my revenge."

"What am I to do?", rasped the little man.

"Late at night, when the king is in bed, bring him here in his sleep. He shall do servant's work for me."

The mannikin frowned. "That is an easy thing for me to do, but a very dangerous thing for you, for if it is discovered, you will fare ill."

When twelve o'clock had struck, however, the door sprang open, and the mannikin carried in the young king.

"Aha, are you there?" cried the soldier, scrutinizing the pampered blond from head to toe. "Get to your work at once. Fetch the broom and sweep the chamber - but take your nightgown off first. I'd like to watch you."

When the king had done this, the soldier ordered him to come to his chair, and then he stretched out his feet and said, "Pull off my boots.” Then he made him wash and massage his feet with his bare, pristine hands before taking care of the boots as well.

The king did everything he bade him, without opposition, silently and with half-shut eyes. When the first cock crowed, the mannikin carried him back to the royal palace, and laid him in his bed.

Next morning when the king arose he told his bespectacled tutor that he had had a very strange dream. "I was carried through the streets with the rapidity of lightning," said he, "and taken into the room of a tall man with an eye patch. I had to wait upon him like a servant, sweep his room, clean his boots, and do all kinds of...menial... work.” The young king blushed and thought it wise to keep the details to himself. “It was only a dream, right? And yet I am just as tired as if I really had done everything. And look at my hands!"

"The dream may have been true," said the tutor, "I will give you a piece of advice. Fill your pocket full of peas, and make a small hole in the pocket, and then if you are carried away again, they will fall out and leave a track in the streets."

But unseen by the tutor, the mannikin was standing beside him when he said that, and heard all.

At night when the sleeping king was again carried through the streets, some peas certainly did fall out of his pocket, but they made no track, for the crafty mannikin had just before scattered peas in every street there was. And again the king was compelled to do servant's work naked and also some other services until cock-crow.

Next morning, after his return, the king sent his people out to seek the track, but it was all in vain, for in every street poor children were sitting, picking up peas, and saying, "It must have rained peas, last night!”

"We must think of something else," said the tutor. “Keep your shoes on when you go to bed, and before you come back from the place where you are taken, hide one of them there. We will soon contrive to find it."

The black mannikin heard this plot, and at night when the soldier again ordered him to bring the king, revealed it to him, and told him that he knew of no expedient to counteract this stratagem, and that if the shoe were found in the soldier's house it would go badly with him.

"Do what I bid you," replied the soldier, and again this third night the king was obliged to have the soldier have his way with him. But before he went away, he hid his shoe under the bed.

Next morning the king had the entire town searched for his lost shoe. It was found at the soldier's, and the soldier himself, who at the entreaty of his little friend had gone outside the gate, was soon brought back, and thrown into prison. In his flight he had forgotten the most valuable things he had, the blue light and the gold, and had only one ducat in his pocket.

And now loaded with chains, he was standing at the window of his dungeon, when suddenly he chanced to see an old comrade passing by. The soldier tapped at the pane of glass, and when the other man came up, said to him, "Cain! Be so kind as to fetch me that small bundle I have lying in the inn, and I will give you a ducat for doing it."

“Who would have thought you'd ever ask _me_ a favour, cyclops?”, the other man snarled. But having money in the prospect, the lowlife individual ran thither and brought him what he wanted.

As soon as the soldier was alone again, he lighted his pipe and summoned his companion, the black mannikin. He was trembling all over again and one half of his face was wet by involuntary tears. The oppressive surroundings suddenly were not the worst anymore. The worst was having to endure them alone.

"Have no fear," said the little one to his master. "Go wheresoever they take you, and let them do what they will, only take the blue light with you."

The mannikin sat with the soldier in silence all night, holding his hand to calm and comfort him.

Next day the soldier was tried, and for his wicked nightly deeds the judge condemned him to death. The soldier had expected this. When he was led forth, however, he begged a last favor of the king.

"Whatever you want me to do this time, the answer is no," said the king, but he looked as if he was uncertain about his own decision.

The soldier said: "My wish is that I may smoke one last pipe on my way."

"You may smoke three," answered the king, "but do not imagine that I will spare your life."

Then the soldier pulled out his pipe and lighted it at the blue light, and as soon as a few wreaths of smoke had ascended, the mannikin was there with a small knife in his hand, and said, "What does my lord command?"

"Strike down to earth that false judge there, and his constable, and spare not the king who was the reason of the war and my misery."

Then the mannikin fell on them like lightning, darting this way and that way, and whosoever was so much as touched by his knife fell to earth, and did not venture to stir again.

The king was terrified, he threw himself on the soldier's mercy, and merely to be allowed to live at all, gave him his kingdom for his own, and himself as his companion.

The soldier, however, shook his head. “I don't give a tinker's curse about your kingdom, young man, and neither do I desire you as companion. You have the skin of a woman and you even get off on being bossed around. What I long to have instead is the permission to tie the knot with this strange, small creature I have grown to love so dearly.”

He turned towards his small helper who held his gaze, amazed, with those big, grey eyes of his.

“I want unrestricted permission for both of us to wander your kingdom, settle wherever we fancy and be left in peace. Until our dying day, however, you shall be the one to pay for both our livelihood. ”

The king, still threatened by the knife, agreed to everything (and also was not little confused in his heart, because during the nights spent at the inn, he indeed had acquired tastes he had been ignorant of until then).

But the soldier bent down and kissed his faithful friend on the mouth.

And they lived happily ever after.

**Author's Note:**

> Source: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~spok/grimmtmp/089.txt


End file.
